Dr. Ribeiro on the Role of Surgery in Pancreatic Cancer

Afonso Ribeiro, MD, medical director of Advanced Endoscopy and Gastroenterology at Memorial Healthcare System, discusses the role of surgery in treating patients with pancreatic cancer.

Due to its status as a systemic disease, surgery has a limited role in treating pancreatic cancer, explains Ribeiro. Surgery has been used to treat pancreatic cancer for decades, according to Ribeiro, but it has yet to change the survival outcomes of the disease. Ribeiro suggests performing the surgery with laparoscopy to make it quicker and more precise to get rid of residual disease.

Pancreatic cancer often stays on nerve cells, which is a sanctuary for pancreatic cancer. Agents that can target the residual disease in nerve cells, which cannot be seen on imaging tests, are necessary, as well as better systemic chemotherapy, concludes Ribeiro.